Daily Archives: May 3, 2012

Nita Yarbrough Stanley, 93, of Gainesville died Saturday, April 28, 2012 at her home. Mrs. Stanley was born September 18, 1918 in Taylor to David Arthur Yarbrough and Maggie Raulerson Yarbrough. She was a graduate of Taylor High School class of 1938 and moved to Gainesville shortly after graduation. She was a retired business owner and member of Countryside Baptist Church, Gainesville.

She married Thomas Mark­­ham on Feb. 19, 1939 and he was killed in action in WWII on January 9, 1945. She remarried on June 26, 1948 to John Elliot Stanley, her husband of 50 years who preceded her in death on January 6, 1999. She was also preceded in death by brothers Lewis, Leo, Roy, Artie, Ed and John Yarborough and sister Elna.

The 35th annual Gate River Run draws thousands of professional and amateur runners to Jacksonville for the largest 15K in the nation. Many are from Baker County.

For this year’s event — which also features a 5K run and children’s run in addition to the 9-mile race with $85,000 in prize money up for grabs — the Baker County YMCA started group training sessions for the Gate River Run.

Y member Connie Walker spearheaded the effort with help from facility staffers by inviting those interested to three weekly training sessions, which began January 3. She also supplied runners with a training schedule to gradually build up their endurance through race day on March 10.

Ms. Walker said about 10 joggers regularly meet for training runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings, though attendance at a bi-weekly discussion session on topics like proper footwear and other tips has been lacking.

The Wildcats girls weightlifting team competed at St. Augustine High School this past weekend in the final state qualifier. The top three finishers in each weight class qualify for the FHSAA state finals in Kissimmee on February 11. The Wildcats qualified three lifters for the state meet.

In the 139-pound class was Kristian Burnham, who finished second with a 130-pound bench press and 140-pound clean and jerk.

In the 169-pound class was Tiffany Braddy, who finished third with a school record 310-pound total. Braddy lifted 170 pounds in the clean and jerk and 140 pounds in the bench press.